"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to come back home."
- in which five comes home just in time to get the girl. and save the world, there's that too.
(previously titled 'mimic')
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☂
The day Katherine had met her mother was a day to remember.
She had just turned 18 and had flown out to Mexico City for a while. She walked down the street in her adult body with Pulparindo in her mouth and headphones in her ears. The streets bustled around her with people selling jewelry and pushing carts.
Katherine has smiled fondly at a memory that had surfaced of Five once telling her that if he ever visited he'd eat his weight in food. She huffed sadly, wondering where he'd been all this time but shoved it to the back of her mind, trying to enjoy life away from the mansion and her father.
She came upon a small bookstore with Bienvenido! written in cursive red, white, and green letters on the window. Katherine decided it looked cosy enough and went inside. It smelled heavily of paper, coffee, and wax. It was small but cute; she noted the prayer candles burning on the front desk and freshly brewed pot of coffee sitting in the corner.
"¡Estaré contigo en un momento!" ( I'll be with you in a moment! )
A woman yelled from the back, startling Katherine. She pulled out her headphones and looked around for a while. When the sudden click of heels could be heard Katherine raised her eyes to the back door and saw a short woman, tan with black hair and beautiful.
The woman smiled up at Katherine, "¿Ingles o español?"
"Either or." Katherine said, tucking her headphones into her back pocket. The woman nodded and smiled again, her eyes wrinkling in the corners.
"Well, what can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for Like Water for Chocolate. You have it?" The lady motioned for Katherine to follow as they made their way to the left corner of the store.
The woman grabbed the ladder and walked up a few steps, pushing herself over to the middle of the bookcase. She muttered to herself and ran a hand over the book covers.
She then pulled out a book and handed it to Katherine, "There you go!"
"Thank you, I've been looking for this."
As they walked back to the front desk the woman picked up a mug, "Coffee?"
Katherine nodded, "Sure, thank you." When she'd settled down with her coffee at a small table in the corner, the woman sat down to join her.
She held out her hand, "I'm Martita Hidalgo." Katherine shook her hand gently, "Katherine Hargreeves."
Martita ran a hand through her wild hair and sighed, "So, what brings you to Mexico City?"
"Wanted to see the place where I was born. Thought it'd be cool to see where I came from."
Martita took a drink of her coffee, "You here by yourself?" Katherine nodded, taking another sip of the steaming coffee.
Silence fell upon them and they sat comfortably for a while, drinking their coffee and watching the people go by the windows. The silence was interrupted by Katherine's phone ringing loudly.
A picture of her father popped up, showing he was calling. Martita glanced down at the picture and she leaned back in her seat, her breath catching in her throat.
Katherine had not noticed the action and picked up her phone, muttering an excuse me then making her way outside to take the call. Martita inhaled shakily, forcing a smile onto her face when Katherine came in and sat back down.
The Hargreeves girl immediately noticed a change in Martita's demeanor. "What's wrong?"
"You-you're Reginald's child?" Katherine's eyebrows furrowed, she was confused with the question.
"Um yeah?" Martita looked down in shame and blinked away a tear. She was silent for a minute giving Katherine time to catch up.
When the youngest gasped lightly Martita looked up and smiled. "You were supposed to be named Catalina." Katherine moved back fro Martita.
"Why'd you do it?" Martita desperately tried to take Katherine's hand in hers, panicking at her daughters reaction.
"I-I was sixteen! I had a problem drugs, my boyfriend at the time left and I didn't want a kid-"
Katherine held up a hand, stopping her mother from speaking. "You sold me off like a piece of property!" The girl stood up from the table and walked backwards, hearing the click of Martita's heels behind her.
Katherine leant down to look into Martita's bloodshot eyes, her pupils dilating and constricting. "Did a part of you even want to keep me?"
Martita, who felt as if she had to tell the truth to her daughter, spoke up. "No. I still wanted to be a kid, not have one." Katherine stood up straighter and made her way to the entrance.
All her life she'd wanted to meet her mother, ask her why she gave her away like that, ask her why she didn't love her enough to keep her. And now that she had answers, she felt not as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but as if one had been slammed down on them.
And she was mad. Mad at her mother for giving her away for cash, mad at herself for not being good enough to keep, mad at everyone for no logical reason (which she knew but couldn't help feeling that way anyways).
One thought swirled around in her head, blocking out everything else.
My mother didn't love me enough.
She rested her hand on the doorknob and turned around to see a crying Martita. "I always prayed that I'd meet you someday. And now I wish I hadn't." Martita called her name quietly, "Please don't leave."
Katherine scoffed at the sentence, "You left me, so now I get to leave."
With a flick of her hand, the books flew off their shelves and landed all around Martita while the mother watched in emotional pain as her daughter left the shop and disappeared into the sea of people outside.
